


School Doors

by KatieHavok, Kemara



Series: Doors [6]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 19 years later, Back to Hogwarts, Fantastic Prompts and Where to Find Them, Gen, King's Cross Station, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 13:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11968182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieHavok/pseuds/KatieHavok, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kemara/pseuds/Kemara
Summary: Newt and Tina see their son off to Hogwarts on September 1, 1942. In response to the Tumblr prompt at@fantasticprompts





	School Doors

**Author's Note:**

> When I began planning the Doors series, I saw Newt and Tina with only one child, Caleb. You’ll learn more about his childhood in another story. I chose for him to be born on Oct. 8, 1931, because that gives Newt and Tina plenty of time to travel before settling down in Dorset and before the Muggle and Wizard wars really get going. 
> 
> When I started writing this story, I realized that Caleb would be a first year at Hogwarts when Tom Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets during the 1942-43 school year. Rubeus Hagrid was a third year, if you’ll recall. In Caleb’s sixth year, the Sorting Hat will take five-and-a-half minutes to sort a little girl named Minerva McGonagall into Gryffindor.
> 
> For reference, Queenie and Jacob are living in England and have three children in 1942: Ruth, who’s in her third year at Beauxbatons; Samuel (called Sam), who’s starting his second year at Hogwarts; and Eliana (called Eli) who is almost 10.

**September 1, 1942**

Caleb took one last walk around his nearly empty room.

It looked odd: with the lighter spots where his World Cup and Fitchburg Finches posters had been – Mum understood his love of quidditch and brought him extras home from the Ministry – empty wardrobe doors open and gaps in his bookcase. Not that he was taking all that many books. He didn't want people to think he enjoyed studying, after all (even though he did). The carved wooden box stuffed to the brim with fossils, shells and special rocks was already in his trunk wrapped carefully in his winter cloak.

He paused beside his broom lying on its hooks opposite the door, wishing he could take it. Apart from his new wand, it was the best thing he owned, but first years weren't allowed to have them. Dad said Caleb would be so busy he wouldn't miss flying, but Caleb wasn't sure.

A tug at his trouser leg made him look down into Hoppy's bright green eyes. Behind her, Milly and Mauler were investigating the wardrobe, their bushy tails straight up.

“Hey, girl.” He reached down to scratch her ears, and she rubbed against his hand, purring loudly. After a minute, she went to join the others, now sniffing around his trunk.

"So, who wants to come with me?" He'd told them yesterday that he was leaving and only one of them could come. Hoppy had slept on his bed last night, curled up behind his knees the way she used to do when he was little.

Hoppy and Milly ignored the question, but Mauler leaped lightly from the floor to the bed where he settled down in a furry, gray circle inside the waiting wicker basket.

A laugh behind him made Caleb turn. His parents stood in the doorway already wearing their coats.

"Well, I'm glad that's decided," Mum said. "Can we come in?"

Caleb shrugged. "Sure." Dad was apt to just wander in if Caleb left his door open, but Mum always asked or knocked if the door was shut. He'd heard her telling Dad that she knew what it was like to grow up with no privacy, and Caleb should enjoy it while he could.

Mum sat on the bed and patted the space beside her. Caleb hesitated, then sat too, leaning his head on her shoulder. She wrapped an arm around him and squeezed.

"Thought you might want this," Dad said holding out a book.

Caleb took it and ran his finger along the familiar line of runes around the border of the dust jacket. They had finished re-re-reading it last night, sitting in the living room with cocoa and taking it in turns, Caleb making sure he got to do his favorite bits – the trolls, Bilbo's riddle game with Gollum and the Battle of the Five Armies. "Thanks. Yeah, I'll see if Sam wants to read it."

"So are you ready to go? Looks like you're all packed." Mum nudged the trunk with her toe. "I bet that weighs a hundred pounds with all the rocks you've got in it."

He shrugged again, unable to muster any enthusiasm. He guessed he was excited – or nervous really – but he'd rather study on his own and help Dad with the creatures the way they'd been doing for the past few years.

"I wish I could stay here," he muttered, reaching into the basket to pet Mauler, who, for a wonder, didn't scratch or even hiss.

His parents exchanged a glance. It was one of their special looks, and Caleb stiffened.

"Actually," Dad said, reaching out to take mum's hand. "We won't be here either."

"What?" Caleb's stomach dropped completely, the way it did when he dived on his broom from really high up. "You're leaving?" His parents didn’t travel as much as they had when he was small, but every now and then one or both of them would get a letter and he’d go stay with his cousins for a while.

Even though he didn’t pay attention to the news, he’d have to be blind and deaf not to know the Muggles were at war, and the dark wizard Grindelwald was taking advantage of it. He’d heard his parents talking in worried voices after he’d gone to bed about camps and bombs and refugees.

Mum worried her lip between her teeth, looking sad. "I got special permission to take you to the station, but I have to leave tomorrow."

Dad put his free hand on Caleb's shoulder and squeezed hard. "I'll take care of a few things here and join your mum where ever she is. Someone's got to keep an eye on her, after all."

"Me? Someone has to keep _you_ out of trouble!"

Caleb let their familiar banter wash over him, but it wasn't as comforting as it usually was. "What about Hanukkah and Christmas?" The knowledge that he would be home again in just a few months had given him something to look forward to.

"You can stay at school if you want," Dad said. "Or if Sam and Ruth go home, you’re welcome to join them."

Mum gave Caleb another squeeze. "You can decide when the time comes. Don't worry about it today."

Dad grinned. "Yes, because worrying..."

"Don't say it!" Mum jumped up and clapped a hand over his mouth.

But as soon as she removed it, he and Caleb chorused, "means you suffer twice." Caleb laughed and felt a little better.

Mum groaned and threw her hands up in defeat. "I give up!” But she was smiling anyway.

"Are you taking the case?" Caleb had said his goodbyes early that morning while helping Dad feed everyone. He'd seriously considered hiding a couple of occamy chicks in his trunk, but decided not to. What if they got out and grew to the size of the Hogwarts Express?

Dad ruffled his hair. "Of course! Where I go, they go."

"Speaking of going," Mum was looking her watch. "It's nearly 10:30. We'd better head out."

Caleb closed Mauler's basket and picked it up, following Mum out of the room while Dad came behind, levitating the trunk.

They stepped outside to an overcast sky and a cool breeze heavy with the smell of salt. Caleb took one last look at their little, whitewashed stone house with its bright blue front door and yellow roses at the windows.

"Caleb, you'll come with me," Mum said, holding out her arm. He shifted the basket so he could hold on through the squeezing of apparition.

He opened his eyes to a large room with a desk near the door. He had been to the Ministry often enough to recognize a government office when he saw one.

"Morning, Tina," a man in scarlet auror's robes nodded to Mum. Dad appeared with the trunk and shrunk it down to fit in the pocket of his blue coat.

"Hey, Newt. You might want to move out of the way," the man said. "We've got another group coming in just a minute. Let me mark your names off." He consulted his clipboard. "Scamander...Caleb, right lad?"

Caleb nodded and let Dad guide him away from the apparition spot. "Yes, sir." Mauler was hissing indignantly from inside the basket.

"How's it been, Septimus?" Mum asked as a woman and girl of Caleb's age appeared with a loud pop where they had just been standing. A man and boy came after with a trunk standing on end between them.

"Pretty quiet so far,” Septimus said, scribbling something on his forms. "Everyone's showed up. Right, you're done. Have a good term."

The lingering smells of smoke and dust hit them as they stepped onto the sidewalk to join a crowd of civilians and soldiers heading to King's Cross a block away. Caleb saw a group of young children carrying suitcases being herded by a few harassed-looking adults. Some of the children were crying. A few streets over, the bombed-out shell of a building rose against the gray sky.

The huge station was even more crowded than the sidewalk. They passed a troop train with khaki-dressed men, cars being loaded with boxes and bags of supplies and travelers of all descriptions. Everyone looked tense and nervous. A loudspeaker blared arrivals and departures as well as safety information.

"I know you're too old to hold hands," Dad said, "but better that than get separated in this crush."

Caleb gratefully clasped his calloused palm as they followed Mum through the throng to the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Ahead of them, two teenage boys stepped through the seemingly solid wall without pausing in their conversation.

"Ready?"

_No,_ Caleb wanted to say. _I'm not ready._ What he said was, "Yes, sir."

He instinctively scrunched his eyes shut as the barrier approached, and opened them to the sight of the scarlet steam engine. He had seen it only once before when his oldest cousin, Samuel, had started school and they had all gone to see him off.

The platform here was no less crowded than on the Muggle side, but with families and children instead of soldiers and guns.

Mum was looking around anxiously. “Where are they?"

“We'll find them,” said Dad calmly.

Mum hopped up and down waving to someone, and a moment later, Caleb saw Aunt Queenie emerge out of the mist, with Sam and Eliana on either side of her.

The sisters exchanged hugs. "Jacob couldn't come?" Mum asked.

Aunt Queenie shook her blond curls. "We divided it up. He's taking Ruth to Beauxbatons – they sent a portkey. But he packed the boys some lunch." She beamed around at them all. "And we're having you for the holidays, Caleb; it's already decided.”

"Queenie, thank you," Mum began, her voice full of tears.

"Don't cry, Teenie. It'll be fine." Aunt Queenie pulled her into another hug.

Caleb flushed and turned away. He hated it when Mum cried. She was an auror! Aurors weren't supposed to cry.

"You can sit with me, ‘Cay," Sam said, coming over. He had his Hufflepuff scarf around his neck even though the day was only cool.

"Why don't we go find you boys a compartment and let the ladies talk?" Dad said. "You can come back out and say goodbye."

"Can I come, too?" Eli was watching them with jealousy written all over her round face. As the youngest Kowalski, she still had another year at home.

Dad smiled in that way that made his eyes crinkle up. "I don't see why not. But hold onto me – we don't want to lose you."

Sam muttered something about, "wouldn't be a bad thing," but shut up when Dad gave him a sharp, blue glance.

Together, the four of them found an empty compartment and loaded the boys' trunks onto it before going back to where Mum and Aunt Queenie waited, their faces carefully free of tears.

"Newt, do you have your camera?" Aunt Queenie asked, excited. "Let me get a picture of the three of you in front of the train."

After searching through the pockets of his coat – which Caleb knew were larger than they looked – Dad found the camera (Mum had given him a fancy, new one for their anniversary in July) and handed it over. Aunt Queenie took several pictures of them and Caleb alone. Then there was a flurry of hugging and kissing and handing over of the lunch basket – “Don’t forget to send us an owl!” – as Caleb followed Sam up the steps. They hung out of the windows waving, while the train slowly gathered speed and left the station, heading for Scotland.

* * *

That night, Caleb sat at a table in the common room with a mug of cocoa at his elbow and a piece of parchment and a quill in front of him. The bright, cozy space made him wonder if this was what a hobbit’s hole looked like. His bed in the boy’s dormitory had a blue and green patchwork quilt like the one on his bed at home. Well, he supposed this was home now, too.

He dipped his quill in a pot of his dad’s favorite peacock blue ink and began to write.

_"Dear Mum and Dad,_

_I have been sorted into Hufflepuff..."_


End file.
